Monday's Most Active Threads

Over the years DCUM has expanded from its parenting roots to include several topics that are not directly related to parenting. Even so, most days parenting threads are still among the most active. Today is not one of those days. The most active topic yesterday is related to parenting only by the fact that the main personality involved is a father. The thread is titled, "Youngkin pardons Loudoun county father" and was posted in the "Metropolitan DC Local Politics" forum. The "Loudoun Country father" is the father of a high school student who was the victim of a rape that took place in a high school bathroom. The boy convicted in the case occasionally dressed in women's clothes, but is not transgender and was involved in an ongoing relationship with the girl. They had previously met for consensual sex in the school bathroom and had arranged to meet each other in the bathroom when the rape occurred. In normal circumstances, this would be considered a case of date rape. However, the assault took place during a time when the Loudoun County Public School Board was debating the school system's policies regarding transgender students and right-wing activists had been fanning fears that the policies would allow boys into girls bath and locker rooms and, thereby, put girls in danger. School board meetings had become extremely contentious with frequent interruptions. During one such meeting, the board was told that there had not been cases of boys assaulting girls in school bathrooms, causing this father to become irate and begin shouting. He resisted as police tried to remove him from the room and pictures and video of him struggling with police officers were widely circulated and used to demonstrate the hostility of anti-trans activists. Liberals and the Commonwealth’s Attorney saw this case as part of a nationwide wave of protests against school boards that had involved frequent threats of violence. As such, the Commonwealth’s Attorney was unusually personally involved in prosecuting the case. The father was convicted of two misdemeanor charges. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail which were suspended pending good behavior. Meanwhile, right-wing anti-trans activists exploited the fact that the boy involved was wearing a skirt at the time of the attack to further anti-trans sentiments. The father became a hero to these activists and a symbol of the overreach of school boards at the expense of parents. This aligned almost perfectly with Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin's campaign of supporting parental rights and rolling back pro-trans measures within schools. It is no surprise, therefore, that Youngkin has now pardoned the father. I don't have much to say about the posts in this thread because they do little more than rehash the same arguments that have been made in a number of previous threads dealing with this assault, as well as a second one later committed by the same boy, and school trans policies.

The second most active thread yesterday was originally posted in the "Off-Topic" forum but I moved it to the "Entertainment and Pop Culture" forum. Titled, "NPR- Who Is Their Base Now?", the original poster complains that while listening to the radio while taking a shower he heard NPR discuss the Trump indictments and the Washington Mystics, Washington's Women's National Basketball Association team. There was no mention of September 11 or the Washington Commanders National Football League team. I noticed two things about the responses to this post: 1) many posters are confused about what they consider to be "NPR", and; 2) technology and listening habits have undergone significant changes in the past few years. With regard to the first, reading the original post I immediately thought that it was strange that NPR would be covering the Washington Mystics. Not because the Mystics are not newsworthy — given that they are headed for the playoffs the opposite is true — but because as the "National" for which the "N" in NPR stands indicates, NPR is national. Local news is provided by WAMU, the radio station that broadcasts NPR in the Washington, DC area. This was a distinction that none of those responding brought up until the second page. Regarding technology, several users were surprised that the original poster still has a radio and suggested that he must be old. He turned out to be mid-40s. I'm older than that and, ironically, just two days ago finally got rid of the clock radio that has sat on my nightstand for over 20 years. Like me, many of the posters have gone radio-free. However, again like me, many still listen to radio programs on smart speakers. Even more catch their favorite radio programs, including NPR programming, via podcasts. The final refuge for radios appears to be cars, which is the one place that most users reported that they still listen to traditional radio. As for NPR's base of users, that was defined more in the negative than anything else. Many users have abandoned NPR because they found it to be too far to the left. "Left" in this context is really cultural more than anything else because NPR is hardly discussing dialectical materialism or proletariate class consciousness. As one poster said, there are not enough stories about struggling cis white males. These users thought that gender and sexual orientation were being given too much emphasis. Those on the left, however, also expressed disappointment with NPR. So, it's not clear who is left in the tote bag community.

The third most active thread yesterday was titled, "Shooting at Brandywine & Connecticut Ave NW This Afternoon" and, like first post above, posted in the "Metropolitan DC Local Politics" forum. The original post reports that a man had just been shot on Connecticut Avenue near the Forest Hills playground. DC has been experiencing an upswing in gun violence with multiple shootings nearly every day. Most of those take place in neighborhoods in which very few, if any DCUM users live. As such, those shootings are rarely mentioned in the forums. This one, on the other hand, was solidly in the middle of DCUM's base. I even used to take my own kids to the Forest Hills playground when they were young. A shooting in the middle of the day on a Saturday in which — had it not been raining — kids could easily have been caught in the crossfire left many outraged and concerned. There have been very few details about the shooting released. Perhaps some of the users know more than they are telling, but most of the reaction appears to be based on assumptions and speculation rather than actual facts. For instance, there is an immediate assumption that the shooting was related to the low-income residents who have been housed in many of the apartment buildings in the area through the use of housing vouchers. I have no idea whether there is any sort of connection, but this is widely accepted by those posting. Posters are concerned that voucher recipients are not provided wrap-around services and generally left to their own accord. Posters report a host of problems arising from voucher recipients, with increased crime being just one of them. Many of those responding in the thread blame local politicians including the Mayor and Members of the DC Council for the deteriorating situation. One poster went even further and outlined what he believes to be a conspiracy in which building owners are provided above market payments through vouchers and accept low-income residents who they hope will drive out current residents living in rent-controlled units. Once emptied of the longterm residents, the owners can renovate the units and sell them as luxury condominiums. Again, I have no idea whether the shooting was tied to vouchers so much of this discussion may be irrelevent to the incident itself. But, one thing the shooting does do is highlight a point I made several days ago that violent crime in DC has not necessarily increased beyond earlier levels, but is more widespread and noticeable.

The final thread that I will discus today is another one from the "Off-Topic" forum, meaning that today's threads all come from one of two forums. This one is titled, "Annual 9/11 Question". The original poster simply asks posters were on September 11 and how did they hear the news of the attacks? Many DCUM users were in New York City, DC, or the Virginia suburbs near the Pentagon at the time of the attack and, therefore, have very vivid memories. But, most of the stories recounted in this thread are notable only because of where they took place. Otherwise, they are indistinguishable from the experiences of millions of other Americans across the country. There was a dispute about whether stories like this involved the posters centering the event on themselves, but I removed those posts because they were off-topic and not responsive to the thread's purpose. Beyond that, I don't have a lot to say about the thread. But, read it if you are interested.